<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>The Aerial Racing League by nitrofire</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24877060">The Aerial Racing League</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitrofire/pseuds/nitrofire'>nitrofire</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>LOONA (Korea Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Choerry Centric, Gen, Multi, Other, Racing, oddeyecircle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:34:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,883</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24877060</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitrofire/pseuds/nitrofire</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The year is 2147. Yerim, an Earth-born pilot who's recently arrived on Mars finds herself drawn into the Aerial Racing League, a underground competition between various aerial vehicle racing teams and factions in the Martian city of Solaris.  </p><p> </p><p>Inspired by the Gunship song 'The Drone Racing League'. An Odd Eye Circle-centric cyber punk-ish AU.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. 01</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Solaris City,<br/>Mars<br/><br/>2147</p><p> </p><p>An MQ-101, a bat-like drone soars in between the black spires of the city skyscrapers, darting past what seemed to be miles and miles of lights and signboards, all blurring into neon-colored streaks of light, before the drone nosed over, rapidly descending into the streets, banking over in an aileron roll before levelling out into the confines of a canal, just wide enough for the drone to manuver.</p><p>The drone’s exhaust kicked up a cloud of red Martian dust as the sky above it alternated between flashes of dark and light, a result of passing under several culverts.</p><p>Originally designed as an unmanned fighter aircraft, this particular MQ-101 had its weapons stripped out by its owners, along with the fire control system. The IFF remained, in case somehow the drone ran into a police or military gunship, which was a rare event, as the cops and the military often kept patrols around the slums and the city outskirts. A downtown run with a drone or any unmanned craft, would be reported in as a noise complaint, which in turn would often be swept under the rug.</p><p>No one would intervene with the drone’s flight, and that’s the way the pilot liked it.</p><p>The drone’s weapon bays were converted to hold fuel, along with electronic equipment linked to the retrofitted cameras in the nose, and the guidance system that linked it to the pilot’s control room, several miles from the drone’s current location.</p><p>The original jet engines were replaced long ago with an impulse drive, scavenged from a starfighter’s wreck, the combination of both the engine and the reduced weight from the mods granting unparalelled top speed and acceleration to the craft.</p><p>The pilot, a purple haired girl named Yerim squinted hard behind her helmet, a live feed of everything in front of the drone’s camera, streaming through a screen in front of her.</p><p><em>Don’t think, react. Focus. Focus.</em> She mumbled a mantra to herself as the MQ-101’s wingtip nearly scrapes a wall.</p><p>Its current path would lead the bat-like craft down the dried up remains of a river, which lead to the outskirts of the city, straight into the Solaris mountain range which the Martian city that the pilot lived in, was named after.</p><p>Tapping a button on the side of the visor, the feed flickered slightly before the pilot’s eyes teared up under the strain of her iris cams adjusted, the live feed fading into a black and white image, as the path the drone would take in its flight through the mountains manifested in a neon-colored line.</p><p>And then the feed slowly faded back into ‘real’ colors a brief moment later.</p><p>-</p><p>“Approaching Solstice Canyon. 30 seconds.” Yerim stated, quite tersely as her focus was fixated on keeping the drone in the air, as the feed started to flicker, with snow-like dots starting to pulse at the edges of her field of view. Her knuckles had already turned white, from how hard she was gripping the throttle and the control stick</p><p>“Roger. Let’s hope all that shielding we crammed in that thing works.”</p><p>A dark haired girl, a close friend of Yerim’s who went by the name of Jinsoul, herself a former military pilot, nods, watching the flight from another screen, where a map of the mountain range was displayed in a top-down view, with the drone appearing as a bright white blip.</p><p>The Solaris mountains were infamous for a rather strong electromagnetic field, because of the inherent properties of the minerals buried under all the red rock, most notably the green and blue crystals that randomly jutted out from the mountainsides, and even formed pillars and glaciers. The miners and denizens of Solaris City casually referred to it as ‘Tiberium’, after the similarly colored crystals from the Command &amp; Conquer videogame series.</p><p>The electromagnetic field posed little danger to manned craft like jets or gunships (but with the catch being that comms going to the city would be extremely choppy, limiting pilots to local comms within a 2-5 kilometer radius of their craft), but many a drone was lost in the mountains, most notably due to the interference, which was strong enough to jam most drone control signals if the drone went too far into the mountains. After the loss of Yerim’s first few drones out there because of that, she had saved every credit she had from her day job as a courier on Earth (until a spinner crash prior to her move to Mars forced her to step out of a cockpit and stick to flying drones instead) to get her hands on the MQ-101. Herself and Jinsoul spent most of their free time modifying the drone to fly in the sandstorms that were common in the wastelands outside the city, and in areas with heavy signal interference like the Solaris mountains. Most of the empty space in the MQ-101 had been packed with shielding against electromagnetic fields and signal boosters, most of which Yerim and Jinsoul had to scavenge from the various scrapyards on the outskirts of Solaris.</p><p>“Increasing speed. Approaching Mach 2.”</p><p>One advantage to being out in the mountains, is the fact that drone and manned aircraft pilots could push their craft to the limits, with the only real danger being the risk of slamming into the side of a mountain or a Tiberium pillar</p><p>Solstice Canyon, as Yerim had found out during her first week in Solaris, was a popular place for manned aircraft pilots to race. A mostly straight line, until one reached the section where the walls would narrow, and then open up into a series of rocky outcrops before wideneing, then narrowing again before the canyon opened up again into a straight line.</p><p>Most locals knew that section as Hellfire Pass, where countless pilots had crashed and burned, quite literally.</p><p>But Yerim was determined. One way or another, she’d complete the Solstice Canyon run, all the way to the end.</p><p>“Mach 2.6… Mach 2.7.” Jinsoul rattled off the speed numbers as they appeared on her screen, Yerim slowly acknowledging as she pushed the throttle control to ‘Full’.</p><p>The drone streaked through the canyon at thrice the speed of sound now, it’s pilot’s senses now sharper than a razor as she deftly manuvered the bat-like craft around several Tiberium pillars</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p>The edges of the screen flickered with bursts of static, but Yerim still managed to maintain control.</p><p>“You’ll be reaching Hellfire Pass in 10 seconds.”</p><p>“Acknowledged. Reducing speed.”</p><p>“Five… Four… Three...”</p><p>Yerim cuts the throttle as the countdown starts, the drone now slowing to exactly the speed of sound as her hands worked their magic, rolling, looping, banking through the narrowest parts of the pass.</p><p>And then disaster strikes, as the image in Yerim’s visor fades into static, followed by the MQ-101’s wing clipping an outcrop of rock. She sees the world tumbling, spinning, and then a shard of Tiberium looming right at the camera.</p><p> And as the feed cut, Yerim had the sensation of being shot between the eyes as her breath hitched, then exhaled slowly.</p><p>With a defeated sigh, a sweat-soaked Yerim stripped off the helmet, leaving it to dangle by its cables as she slid off her seat.</p><p>“What happened? According to the tracker, you were making pretty good progress.” Jinsoul had inquired, as she helped Yerim up, handing Yerim her walking-stick as the purple haired pilot wiped off a torrent of sweat from her forehead.</p><p>“Too much interference. The controls were fine but the camera feed had too much interference. Clipped a wing on a rock because I couldn’t see anything…”</p><p>“Hey, don’t worry. We’ll get you another drone.” Jinsoul slips an arm around her friend, to which Yerim replies with a chuckle.</p><p>“So much for joining the ARL’s unmanned class.”</p><p>The ARL, which was the acronym of the Aerial Racing League, was the main form of entertainment for the more technically-inclined denizens of Solaris.</p><p>The Aerial Racing League, as the name implied, was an underground racing league for jets, rotorcraft, drones and basically anything that fell under the Martian government’s definition of an ‘aerial vehicle’</p><p>There were two classes in the ARL for prospective competitors, one for manned craft and another, the unmanned class for drones, which Yerim had aspirations of participating in. Each class in itself would have two categories; pure racing, with the kind of race being randomly decided each time it was held (and pilots earning bonus points for aerobatics or stunts performed during the races) or dogfighting where pilots would test their combat flying skills against one another.</p><p>Jinsoul was one such ARL pilot, one of many participants in the ARL’s manned-aircraft class along with Jungeun, another pilot, who had borrowed Jinsoul’s jet earlier in the day, before Yerim’s now-failed test flight of her heavily customized MQ-101.</p><p>Yerim had been taken in by Jungeun and Jinsoul a few days after she landed on Mars, being taken from Neo-Seoul into their current place at Solaris.</p><p>Jinsoul, as Yerim found out on their first flight training session in Jinsoul's own aircraft, was a former pilot with the Solaris garrison of the Mars Aerospace Force, with a pretty long service record. Serving from 2135 until 2146. Jungeun herself was an Earthling like Yerim, who had moved to Mars a decade before, meeting Jinsoul sometime in 2145 after moving to Mars in 2137. Unlike Jinsoul, Jungeun never talked much about her past, referring vaguely to it as having done some real shady things back on Earth whenever someone asked.</p><p>The purple-haired pilot proved to have a natural knack for flying, as she demonstrated with her first drone, a smaller model called the Vogel (which was later lost in her first attempt at the Solstice Canyon run).</p><p>Their team was called Odd Eye Circle, a name all three pilots had thought up after a session of voting for random words they threw on a whiteboard. And it was fitting, due to the iris cams that Jungeun had invented, in the form of removeable contact lenses, linked to the pilot helmets as a navigation systems aid.</p><p>Unfortunately, Yerim wasn’t able to join in any races, with her injuries from her crash, and now the loss of the only drone she had.</p><p>The only sounds Jinsoul heard after, when Yerim had gone off to change into a fresh set of clothes was the sounds of the younger pilot muttering, chastising herself for being so reckless with the only drone she had left.</p><p>“Hey, you alright there?”</p><p>“…Yes. I’m good, no worries!”</p><p>-</p><p>Both Jinsoul and Yerim rushed out as the sounds of jet engines resonated overhead.</p><p>Two fighters sparred in the skies above, one packing the emblem of a wolf holding a knife in its teeth on its tail, the other with the emblem of an eagle on its tail. Both of them also packed an emblem of twin moons on their nose.</p><p>Both aircraft reminded Yerim of a pair of ravens, with the aircrafts’ birdlike designs. The forward-swept wings making both jets seem even more like birds of prey.</p><p>Either the Mars Aerospace Force garrison stationed at Solaris had a new pilot whose skills they wanted to test out, or they had some new toys that the garrison’s pilots wanted to show off in an impromptu airshow.</p><p>It had to be the latter reason, and the fighters had to be some new design as not even Jinsoul, who was quite familiar with half the aircraft the military flew could identify it.</p><p>Both Jinsoul and Yerim watched from below, the two jets drawing a cluster of contrails against the red sky as they began a dance of sorts. The wolf would drop down on to the raven’s tail, only for the raven to perform an aileron roll, as the wolf quickly countered with loops.</p><p>And after several minutes of chasing each other’s tails under the cloudless sky, both fighters broke away, levelling their wings as they retreated to the east end of the city.</p><p>Jinsoul’s phone rang, as quickly as the jets left. It was Jungeun.</p><p>“Hey, word’s getting around that something crashed out there in Hellfire Pass . Saw something smoking when I flew over it.... Wasn’t one of you two, I hope?”</p><p>“Uhh about that….”</p><p>“Don’t tell me…”</p><p>“N-no! That was Yerim’s MQ-101. Camera feed cut due to interference and it clipped its wings.”</p><p>A relieved sigh, before Jungeun spoke.</p><p>“At least she’s in one piece. Drones can be replaced, we ourselves can’t be replaced…”<br/><br/>“…unless you’re a military spook who’s a replicant.”</p><p>Jungeun chuckled over the line, as Jinsoul finished her sentence for her.</p><p>“Heh true. Either way, get your butts to the old starport at the West end. Namjoon’s got a few things he claims we’d be interested in. Maybe we’ll get Yerim a new drone too.”</p><p>Jinsoul glanced over at Yerim, now able to walk without the stick, but still with a slight limp in her step. And then the purple-haired girl gazed skywards, arms outstretched as she imagined what it’d be like to step into an actual cockpit again.</p><p>“How soon do you want us there?”</p><p>“20 mins, then we’ll have at least a couple hours before tonight’s race.”</p><p>“Alright.”  </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>World-building in this AU has elements taken from Blade Runner, with inspiration taken from Wangan Midnight, the Need for Speed series along with a few references to Altered Carbon thrown in for good measure</p><p>For a look at Lippie's past along with that of a few more characters, check out my other fic Maximum Black</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. 02</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Yerim held on for dear life, as Jinsoul kept the bike at full throttle, tearing down the streets at high speed, weaving through several cars as Jinsoul left a trail of black skid marks and the stench of heated rubber in her wake.</p><p>“Hey, you do realise that this is a bike and not a jet, right?” Yerim gripped tightly on the bike’s grab handles, in an attempt to not get herself flung off, due to Jinsoul’s biking antics.</p><p>Jinsoul merely chuckled, speeding along as the skyscrapers around them blurred into multiple grey lines in the corners of her eyes, punctuated by the reddish sky above.</p><p>Jungeun had managed to slip on a dust mask, a second before Jinsoul came steaming past on her bike, a cloud of red Martian dust in her wake. Jungeun raises an eyebrow, her left eye, replaced sometime back with a cybernetic ocular implant, glowing a neon red as a grinning Jinsoul and a somewhat shaken Yerim walk up to her. </p><p>“Took you long enough.”<br/><br/>“We took the scenic route.” To which Yerim shot a glare at Jinsoul, who replied with a shrug, as Yerim reached out, in an attempt to fake-strangle her.</p><p>Jungeun merely huffed before raising a hand.</p><p>“Alright knock it off. You’re here and that’s what matters.” </p><p>-</p><p>The starport at the West End of Solaris had been quickly abandoned, after the space elevator to the north of the city was erected, and along with it, another bigger starport. The reason being the choice of location was that the space elevator along with its facilities was intended to be a trading hub, and a power supply source for the cites of Neo Seoul and Solaris.</p><p>The old starport to the west was quickly taken over by scavengers, derisively referred to by some Solaris denizens as vultures. Beside scouring the surfaces and orbits of Earth and Mars for junk to be repuposed, the vultures in and around Solaris made their fortunes through the thriving market for hulks of aerial vehicles, the trade driven by the Aerial Racing League and those that wished to participate in it.</p><p>One such group of vultures was led by a man, known by the moniker RM, but known to most of his regulars by Namjoon, his real name.</p><p>Jungeun and Jinsoul were regular patrons of his, as he and his team somehow managed to get their hands on all sorts of high-performance aircraft, often for a decent price too.</p><p>And as the three pilots waited outside the gate, a small quadcopter, packing a camera on its underside flew out from a gap on the chain-link fence. It paused, hovering over the trio, letting the pilot, who was sitting in a small control room in one of the many small buildings that dotted the disused starport, get a good look at them.</p><p>A few seconds later, the red light on the top bar of the gate flashed green, as Namjoon himself appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, on a buggy.</p><p>“Ah, I’ve been expecting you lot. Hop on, I got some hardware that you three might be interested in…”</p><p>“Oh yeah?” Jungeun chuckled, lifting the suitcase full of credits up into full view before hopping on, Jinsoul and Yerim following suit. “Show us the goods and I’ll show you the cash.”</p><p>“With pleasure.”</p><p>The journey to the main hangar, where most of the hardware that Namjoon’s team got their hands on was kept, didn’t take that long.</p><p>And it didn’t take long for Yerim to notice the various security features that Namjoon’s vulture team had set up.</p><p>Besides the rather subtly hidden cameras, she had noticed the small squadron of attack drones, quadrotor-types with machine guns, shadowing the buggy from a distance.</p><p>To Yerim, it seemed that one wrong move or any attempt at breaking and entering would result in the unfortunate intruder/assailant being shot to bits. Literally. Yerim took some comfort in the fact that Jungeun and Jinsoul were on good terms with this team of vultures.</p><p>-</p><p>Aircraft. Aircraft and parts, lined up in the hangar, as far as Yerim could see. There were at least 20-30 planes in this very hangar alone. One could only imagine how many more were in the surrounding hangars.</p><p>Her attention was then drawn to two aircraft, with tarpaulins over them. One had Jinsoul’s betta emblem in blue, while the other had Jungeun’s owl emblem in red.</p><p>Yerim was quite familiar with Jinsoul’s jet, a twin-seater design, used by the aerial forces of Mars and a distant colony planet named Faery. It reminded the purple-haired pilot of the old jets used by some air forces on Earth that were designed and built by the Earth company Sukhoi, codenamed Flankers. The FFR-31 MR/D, which was the official designation for Jinsoul’s jet, nicknamed by Faery pilots as the Super Sylph, resembled a Flanker on steroids, with its sweeping, almost organic lines, and the twin-cockpit, which looked like a pair of tandem-mounted bubbles on the front of the plane.</p><p>Jungeun’s which was down for the past week because it was awaiting spare parts, looked like it was designed by someone with a switchblade fetish. Designated the FA-2, codenamed Fand-II, it was allegedly an advanced design from the Faery military that was optimized for maximum manuverability, the wings and fins were all swept forwards, linked to a central aerofoil, with the main fuselage itself mounted to the aerofoil by a bunch of struts, giving the aircraft the look of a dart that was attached to a Swiss Army knife.  Over the past week, Jungeun had gotten over her lack of a flyable plane, by swapping turns with Jinsoul, flying Jinsoul’s Super Sylph, which was with Namjoon today, for a long overdue engine change.</p><p>-</p><p>“Alright, comrade. You said you had some hardware for us. Whatever it is, it had better be as good as, if not better than these Faery-designed planes we got.”</p><p>Chuckling at Jungeun’s words, the vulture leader led them down to the far end of the hangar, where a bunch of recent-acquired airframes awaited, both extremely familiar to Yerim, as she had seen them in the flesh at air shows on Earth, when she was much younger.</p><p>There was one aircraft in the first row, which looked like a simplified version of the Super Sylph, and had a single cockpit. This one was nicknamed the Nosferatu.  The aircraft next to it, looked like a Flanker but with switchblades for wings. The X-02 Wyvern. This particular one was the X-02S two-seater strike variant. The Wyvern was a jet that Yerim had often dreamed of flying on Earth. And then in the next row was a drone, which looked like a boomerang on steroids. </p><p>And as Namjoon explained the various performance figures and specifications of the Earth-designed aircraft to the two older pilots, Yerim’s attention was drawn to the dark grey aircraft at the end of the row, resembling an arrowhead with a fin.</p><p>The younger pilot was drawn to the aircraft’s sleek look. She knew this one as the SR-72. A drone, which could also be converted into a manned aircraft by swapping the entire front section of the craft. On Earth, its development was extremely classified, so what Yerim knew about it and its capabilities was based mostly on hearsay and theories. And now she got to see one of Earth’s most top secret aircraft on display in front of her.</p><p>It was extremely streamlined compared to the other aircraft on display, suggesting that it was designed for extremely high speed flight. On its underside were a row of glass panels, befitting its intended purpose as a high speed recon craft.</p><p>“I see the SR-72 has caught your attention.” Yerim raises an eyebrow, as one of Namjoon’s technicians walked up behind her.</p><p>“I read so much about this thing. Back on Earth, this thing was said to be in constant development hell. Most of what I could find on it back home were classified… How did you guys get your hands on this?”</p><p>The younger pilot reaches out, running a hand over a matt grey panel, her attention still focused on the aircraft, even as Jungeun and Jinsoul walked up, each putting a hand on Yerim’s shoulders.</p><p>“Of course it would be. The Earth leaders were an extremely paranoid bunch. However, on Mars and in the rest of the Terran Federation, all you need to know on any black project is as easy as knowing which database to hack into, or the right set of palms to grease. But this one... from what we managed to dig up, was that the SR-72 project was indeed successful, with the first flights being in 2065, 15 years after the project was started in 2050. Then after more than four decades, the SR-72s were quietly retired. All of the prototypes ended up buried in the deserts near Area 51, while the production craft suffered various fates; either buried next to the prototypes or scrapped, along with most records of the program from beginning to end either purged or kept classified, so officially, this thing doesn't even exist at all anymore. Most Earthlings are convinced it's a rumor, with how hushed up it was, while here on Mars, next to no one outside of the MASF is even aware the SR-72 exists. As of now, only 10 people on Mars outside of the military know it exists. You, me, and the rest of our crews. Everyone else out there either think it's just a rumor, or aren't even aware the SR-72 does exist. ”</p><p>“In case you were wondering, this thing is indeed capable of hypersonic flight. However due to the fact that we couldn’t get the original ramjet engines for this, top speed is limited to Mach 3.2, as we’ve had to use engines scavenged from wrecked MASF fighters. As you probably already know by now, this thing was also designed for both manned and unmanned flight, which can be achieved by swapping in a cockpit module for the AI computer module and vice versa, so this can qualify you for the ARL’s manned or unmanned classes. As to how we got it. You won't believe us but we somehow found this in the Utopia Planitia plain. How it got here is anyone's guess but it most likely has something to do with the Feddies and the Mars Aerospace Force spooks.”</p><p>Yerim glanced up at the sleek aircraft, and then at the two vultures, and back at Jungeun, who responded with a shrug and a look that basically said ‘It’s your call’.</p><p>“How much are we asking?” To which the vulture leader handed the purple haired girl a note with a number scribbled on it.</p><p>“Pay this as a deposit. We’re still working on getting this thing in flying condition along with some refits and I’m not gonna let you pay the full price yet because even I don’t know how long it will take. Could be hours, could be days. Either way, it’s not gonna be ready to fly by tonight.”</p><p>Yerim raises an eyebrow, before handing over a prepaid card to Namjoon, who quickly swiped it across a pad-like device strapped to his wrist.</p><p>“Payment acknowledged. Pleased to be doing business with you, Miss.” Namjoon turns back to Jungeun and Jinsoul after, for another round of negotiations on the Earth planes because Jinsoul had eyes on the Wyvern.</p><p>-</p><p>The ARL was hosting a race that night. Each class would host its race in a different part of the wasteland outside Solaris and tonight, the manned aircraft class would be holding its race over the Solaris mountains, at a small airfield. With the Super Sylph still out of action due to the engine replacement taking longer than expected, and the Fand-II still awaiting an overdue shipment of spare parts from Faery, Jinsoul and Jungeun had decided which of them was going to race tonight, though flipping a coin.</p><p>It would be Jinsoul who’d race tonight, in their newly acquired X-02 Wyvern.</p><p>“Sure you don’t want to race tonight?” Jinsoul looked over her shoulder, turning her attention from the instruments to the younger pilot in the back, nodding along to a song playing through the single earbud plugged into her ear while the other hung over her shoulder by its connecting cable.</p><p>“Maybe not. Me and flying, just don’t seem to get along.” Yerim shrugs, trying to force herself not to think of the crash last week, along with the drones she lost.</p><p>“But then you bought that SR-72.”</p><p>“Touche. But somehow I felt like it was calling out to me in a way.” Yerim chuckles, watching as Jinsoul slips her helmet on with her now-activated iris-cam appearing as a faint blue glow behind the helmet’s glass visor, briefly flashing as the device establishes a data link with the helmet and the Wyvern’s instruments.</p><p>“Poetic are we? Looks like Choi Yerim here’s a bit of a romanticist.”</p><p>“Okay you got me. But in all honesty, I just need to regain my flying confidence back. Maybe a test flight in my other dream plane might help.”</p><p>And right before Jinsoul could reply, Jungeun reaches over, handing over a small contact lens case.</p><p>“Here you go, kiddo. Upgraded versions of your iris cams, based on the tech in my left eye. I’ve put an extra data link capability so when it activates, you just need to tap a few buttons and then you’ll be able to see what me or Jinsoul sees and vice versa. I’ve color coded these for convenience too. Jinsoul’s is blue while yours is purple.”</p><p>“Okay this is cool.”</p><p>“The wonders of nanotechnology and 3D printing, my friend.”</p><p>To which Yerim chuckles in reply as she slips her new iris cam on.</p><p>And as Jinsoul demonstrates, both her own iris cam and Jungeun’s flashed in their respective colors along with Yerim’s. Whatever was within Jinsoul’s field of view now appeared in a small image in the corners of Jungeun and Yerim’s fields of vision, before the image disappeared as Jinsoul tapped a few more buttons, disabling the iris cams’ live stream.</p><p>“Cool, right? This way if we race as a team once we have a full set of planes, coordinating is going to be much easier.”</p><p>And before anyone can reply the roar of jet engines drowns out all other sound, then followed by the screech of tires hitting tarmac at high speed. It was a fighter, one with a stealth-ish design, packing the emblem of a white swan on its fins.</p><p>Jungeun looked up from bolting down an access panel on the Wyvern, squinting as the jet stopped, then gasped as a tall, lithe figure, clad in a light grey and burgundy flight suit and matching helmet stepped out. And then another gasp as the figure slid down the ladder attached to the aircraft (which Jinsoul identified as an FFR-31 Sylphid), took off the helmet to reveal cropped, shoulder length hair.</p><p>Yerim looked down at the album art of the song playing on her phone, then at the grey-and-burgundy pilot, and then back at her phone. It didn’t take long for her to put two and two together to realise that that very pilot was the idol singer Ha Sooyoung, who went by the stage name Yves.</p><p>“Holy shit, you never told me Yves raced too!”</p><p>“She’s been out of the racing scene for a while. I thought she quit before her Earth tour, but I guess I was wrong.” Jinsoul drew a wolf-whistle, eyeing Yves from top to bottom. </p><p>“And then our dear Jungeun unnie is going to spazz out, before running over to either hit on her or ask for an autograph.” Yerim chuckles, listening to a fangirling Jungeun nearly hyperventilating at the sight of Yves in person.<br/><br/>“Okay, all systems check out. I got some…business to take care of. See you two in a bit!” As if on cue, Jungeun speaks so fast that her words nearly slurred, drawing a chuckle from Yerim and Jinsoul.</p><p>“I swear to God she’s so hilarious when she goes full fangirl mode.”</p><p>And as quickly as Jungeun runs off after her idol, Jinsoul and Yerim catch sight of two military jets, the same models as those from earlier, their wings automatically folding upwards as the jets coasted to a halt after cutting their engines.</p><p>“Wait what’s the military doing here?” A confused Yerim asks, to which Jinsoul shrugs, almost casually.</p><p>“The military uses the races to test the performance of their new toys, which is why they allow the ARL to operate, despite the ARL being technically illegal. That and they accept hush fees from the ARL to look the other way.”</p><p>“Huh.”</p><p>“And speaking of which, one of those two looks pretty familiar...” Jinsoul notes, eyeing the white rabbit on the lead fighter’s tail, along with the fighter packing the wolf insignia from earlier.</p><p>Her suspicions were confirmed as the pilot of the lead fighter started strutting towards the Wyvern, pulling the helmet off to reveal a dark haired woman, with faded streaks of blue and purple in her hair along with an all too familiar grin.</p><p>“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the ace of aces, Colonel Kim Minji!” Jinsoul calls out, before sliding down the ladder attached to the front cockpit of the Wyvern.</p><p>“Jung Jinsoul, the blue betta. It’s been a long time.” Minji chuckles, extending a hand towards Jinsoul who shakes it, before pulling the older pilot into a bear hug.</p><p>“Saw two of your people up there earlier today. I’m guessing your squadron has some new toys that you’re going to flex in tonight’s race.”</p><p>Minji nods, her grin now almost shark-like.</p><p>“You like our new toys? These are brand new prototypes, designated FRX-00. Codenamed Mave. MASF’s got an entire factory ready to build these to send over to the war effort at Faery.”</p><p>“Faery… Heard it’s an even bigger meat grinder out there compared to the last time we both were there.”</p><p>Minji shrugs at the statement, her grin turning into a frown.</p><p>“As long as me and my girls aren’t being sent back to that hellhole, I couldn’t care less about what happens on Faery. 50,000 casualties so far this year. 50,000. And that's just over the last few months. And for what? We've both been there, Betta. The war there is about to reach a decade already. You and I both know that Faery isn’t even a strategically or economically important planet. Hell if I know why the Feddies want to colonize it so badly.”</p><p>Jinsoul shakes her head at that revelation.</p><p>“The top brass are all the same. Real bunch of boneheaded yes-men who only know politics and ass-kissing.”</p><p>To which Minji replies with another shrug.</p><p>"Too right, buddy."</p><p>“Oh by the way Colonel, here’s the newest member of Odd Eye Circle.”</p><p>Jinsoul nods over at Yerim, who then proceeded to give a left handed salute, only for Minji to laugh before motioning for Yerim to salute with her other arm.</p><p>“Your new prodigy, Betta? What’s your name, kid?” The military pilot extends a hand towards Yerim, who proceeded to return the handshake.</p><p>“Yerim. Choi Yerim. It’s a real pleasure to meet you, Colonel.”</p><p>“Not racing tonight?”</p><p>“Unfortunately no. I’m… not exactly ready to fly in the ARL yet so I’ll be watching from the ground.”</p><p>“I think I know how to fix that, if it’s okay with you and Betta…” Minji glances at Jinsoul who nods, as Yerim cocks her head in mild confusion.</p><p>“Betta, bring your prodigy to me tomorrow. I’ve got something planned.”</p><p>And as if on cue, Jungeun came running up to the three out of nowhere, interrupting the conversation, throwing a hasty wave at Minji as she hurriedly motioned for Jinsoul to climb into the Wyvern’s cockpit.</p><p>The race was about to start soon, and Minji and Jinsoul had lost track of time in their little conversation.</p><p>Minji glanced down at her watch, then gave Jungeun and Yerim a salute before heading back towards her own aircraft.</p><p>“Godspeed!” Yerim had to yell over the roar of aircraft engines, before security ushered her and Jungeun into the stands, right as Minji and Jinsoul both raised a thumb each, as a form of acknowledgement.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. 03</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>There were 12 aircraft on the tarmac. Jinsoul’s Wyvern, Yve’s Sylphid and Minji’s Mave are the only three aircraft that stand out from the rest, due to the fact that half the competition was using old Earth and Martian aircraft that dated back to the 21<sup>st</sup> century, contrasting with their much newer designs, from the 22<sup>nd</sup> century.</p><p>As every pilot, regardless of whether they were a racer or a fighter jock knew, understimating one’s opponent due to their choice of machine was an often costly mistake.</p><p>The course ran around a row of mountains, that looked like a circular depression in the Solaris mountain range on satellites, nicknamed the Round Table. The course’s path would be fed to the pilot’s visual displays in the form of holographic rings. To stay on course, all the pilot would have to do was to follow the rings…. Which skirted the outer rim of the Round Table, and down into the flatlands in the middle, before descending even more, down into one of the myriads of canyons, and then back up above the peaks, the course then weaving through several Tiberium spires before the path looped back around the Round Table’s outer rim.</p><p>Full throttle. Flaps extended. Nose up. The air surrounding the airfield is filled with the sounds of rolling thunder as a dozen jets take off in pairs before streaking towards the mountains.</p><p>To Yerim, it was if the sky was filled with a big metal cloud. The noise of the jets was muted out by the headsets she and Jungeun wore.</p><p>Jinsoul taps on her helmet, opening a datalink to Jungeun and Yerim, connecting their iris cameras. Jungeun sees the image of the sky, reddened by the setting sun, contrasting against the dark shapes of the mountains below the Wyvern, as Jinsoul updates Jungeun on her progress, and on the Wyvern’s performance every 5 minutes.</p><p>Yerim gasps in awe at the view, suddenly wishing she’d taken Jinsoul’s offer to fly. The younger pilot looks up, watching as Jinsoul’s Wyvern streaks past, along with the Mave and the Sylphid trailing behind it.</p><p><em>Oh how I suddenly miss being at the controls.</em> Flying drones just didn’t feel the same. Yerim in a way, missed the ‘responsiveness’ of being behind the controls of an actual aircraft, compared to flying a drone remotely, which reminded her of playing video games on her old PC back on Earth.</p><p>That rush that comes as one approaches the speed of sound, and then the airframe vibrating as one breaks the sound barrier, and then that feeling of euphoria, as one then realises one’s now flying faster than the speed of sound. Flying a drone remotely just doesn’t feel the same. And so Yerim decides, that once the SR-72 is ready, she would join the ARL’s manned class.</p><p>-</p><p>The race is 20 laps. It takes Jinsoul five to realise that only her Wyvern and Yve’s Sylphid are the only ones in the lead. Jinsoul glances at the skies, her own iris-cam, now linked to the front and rear radars, flashing blue as it scans the skies for signs of another aircraft.</p><p>And then an alert symbol flashes in the corner of Jinsoul’s field of view, indicating a high speed contact is inbound. The raven-like form of Minji’s Mave flies past, a black streak, between Jinsoul and Yves’ planes. Jinsoul catches sight of Minji in her seat, with a cluster of cables and hoses attached to her helmet and flight suit.</p><p>“Talk to me. What’s your status, Betta?”</p><p>Jinsoul scoffs, just soft enough for it to not register on her helmet’s microphone. Jungeun just knew when to interrupt her for an update.</p><p>“Betta to Owl, I’m kinda busy at the moment!”</p><p>Jungeun stumbles over her words as she taps into Jinsoul’s camera feed, remembering that Jinsoul had just hit the part of the course where the racers’ flightpath would take them through the canyon.</p><p>“Oh crap I forg-”</p><p>“Screw it. I’m still trying to catch up to Minji’s tail, while trying to keep your idol crush at least three plane lengths away from my own tail.”</p><p>“I- uhh- Acknowledged. If you can take Position 1 from our military spook friend and hold it, you’ll be good to go.”</p><p>“That’s easier said that done, but roger that.”</p><p>Immediately Jinsoul applies full afterburner, her Wyvern’s wings folding back into their slots as the jet propels itself past the speed of sound, in hot pursuit of the MASF pilot’s Mave, Jinsoul’s own aircraft almost casually weaving past spires of the glowing green Tiberium crystals before nosing over, diving straight into the canyon, following the series of holographic rings appearing in the helmet’s display.</p><p>A look in the mirrors tells Jinsoul that Yves is not far behind. She keeps the throttle of her Wyvern open in an attempt to maintain her distance</p><p>Back in the stands, Yerim switches off the live feed for her iris cam, instead watching the race from one of the massive holo screens. Next to her is Jungeun, rapidly conversing back and forth with Jinsoul through a headset, as Yves, Jinsoul and Minji cycle through chasing each other’s tails while attempting to out-distance each other each time either one of them takes the lead.</p><p>“New here?” Yerim turns towards the source of the voice, a black haired woman, whose features were hidden behind the teal surgical face mask she was wearing. And as Yerim turned to face the stranger, she noted that the stranger was clad in the same flight suit as Minji, with no attempt at concealing the Mars Aerospace Force patch on one shoulder, along with the twin moons emblem on the other.</p><p>“Uhh yup. Been on Mars for a nearly a month already.”</p><p>“Huh? Welcome to Solaris, kid. Haven’t seen you in the ARL races, on the ground or in the cockpit. First time, kid?” </p><p>“That’s affirmative.”</p><p>“Been watching you from the way you walked up here. Got in a crash recently? Can tell from that limp in your step.”</p><p>Yerim hesitates, surprised at how observant the stranger is. But then again, it was to be expected of a military pilot. This one right here has to be either a strike jock or a recon spook, Yerim thinks to herself.</p><p>“Yep, though I’ve been making a rapid recovery. Docs say I’m physically well enough to fly.”</p><p>“I’m guessing that drone I saw crashing and burning in Solstice Canyon during my flight mission earlier was yours? You’re still pretty good to me. Despite your…loss.”</p><p>The stranger dispenses with martial formalities as she extends a hand.</p><p>“Siyeon. Second Lieutenant Lee Siyeon. Mars Aerospace Force, 3<sup>rd</sup> Experimental Weapons and Evaluation Squadron.”</p><p>“Uhh I’m Yerim. Choi Yerim.” The purple haired pilot grabs hold of Siyeon’s hand. Something feels off and Yerim’s not sure if it’s the rather predatory vibe Siyeon gives off, or if it’s the fact that Siyeon herself just feels… off.  Siyeon merely gives Yerim a look, before nodding, then raising her wrist to reveal the small bar code tattoo on it as if to give Yerim her answer.<br/><br/>“You’re a ski-”  Yerim holds her tongue mid-sentence, holding back an untintentional slur.”</p><p>“Skinjob? Yup. That’s right. I’m a replicant.” Siyeon finishes Yerim’s sentence. Adding in the half-censored slur as she then chuckles, shrugging as her face mask conceals the wolf-like grin behind it. Siyeon was indeed a replicant, not quite android, not quite human. The product of advanced bioengineering, which most people on Earth saw as a form of witchcraft.</p><p>“No offence meant, Lieutenant, but from all my years on Earth. I didn’t think the Feddies let replicants in the military.” To which Second Lieutenant Lee laughs.</p><p>“That kind of discrimination is only an Earthling thing. Here on Mars and the colonies outside the Solar System, most Special Operations units and experimental squadrons make quite liberal use of replicants. Due to the sheer cost of creating a replicant ‘sleeve’, only the most skilled or most ‘valuable’ operators and pilots get to be reincarnated more than once. I personally have been reborn five times in total.”</p><p>Jungeun remains fixated on the live feed in her iris-cam, her headset blocking out the conversation between Yerim and Minji’s wingman.</p><p>According to Siyeon, there was indeed a ban on replicant production after 2049. But in 2122, after the Terran Federation formed and started to colonize the Solar System, the ban was quietly lifted on Mars, as the Martian faction of the Terran military along with the various outer colonies realized that while skilled soldiers and pilots could be trained quickly, exceptionally skilled ones, like most Special Forces units, and half of Minji and Siyeon’s squadron could not be as easily replaced. It was then decided by the Mars faction to allow extremely limited production of replicants, where the issue with empathetic ability was then solved by way of an implant in the original person’s body that would technically save the person’s consciousness and personality in the form of a disc, known as a cortical stack, or stack for short. To bring the deceased soldier back to life in the literal sense, all one would have to do was recover the stack (assuming it was undamaged) and literally plug it in to their new replicant body, colloquially referred to as a sleeve, which could shrug off any injury except those to the base of the brain. However, it was still possible to recover a person’s stack if the body was destroyed, assuming the base of the neck remained relatively untouched. The stacks used by the military were designed for use in extreme temperatures, so anyone that died in the cold or were burned to death could technically still be recovered and revived.</p><p>However, as Siyeon mentioned, the biggest issue that plagued most military personnel that were reincarnated into replicants, was the psychological shock from dying and then waking up in a not-quite human body. Some had full on psychotic breakdowns, some became reckless in the field, while some just came off as a bit odd in mannerism and behaviour.</p><p>And then the rest of the conversation is drowned out, by the sounds of the racers soaring past. Jinsoul now leading with a growing gap between her Wyvern, along with Minji’s Mave and Yves’ Sylphid trailing far behind.</p><p>“…which is why I don’t blame you if you get the impression that me and a couple other pilots from my squadron are a bit ‘off’ compared to Minji. Being reborn more than once tends to do that to people.”</p><p>“But then, you’re basically immortal.”</p><p>“True that. But it’s not worth it. Life as a fully biological android, is really, really not all it’s cracked up to be. Especially since your psyche gets pretty fucked up after being reborn a few times.” And then Siyeon glances around, before leaning closer to Yerim, speaking in a lower voice.</p><p>“Also one more thing. The ARL isn’t ‘official’ as we both know, so there’s lots of shady things going on. Betting is a serious business in the ARL with up to millions of Martian credits involved. Us in the military that are involved with the ARL perfer to play the game as it was always intended, but there are those out there that are willing to rig matches through any means possible. You seem like a smart kid so I know you know what I mean. Your friends probably already told you before they brought you here, but I’ll tell you anyways so you’re clear. </p><p>Stay away from any shady characters, don’t get involved in any shady business. You get me? Only trust your friends and mine. Anything weird happens, you go to Minji, me or any of our squadron members directly.”</p><p>Yerim merely replies with a nod</p><p>“Good kid.”</p><p>And then Siyeon melds back into the crowd, giving Yerim a two-fingered salute as the racers pass overhead for the final two laps.</p><p>Jinsoul pulls up, the nose of the Wyvern arcing upwards as a set of numbers flash across her field of view. It was her lap time. Now under 2:37, which was quite fast, Jinsoul only had Yves to contend with. Minji in the Mave had retired sometime before lap 16, which wasn’t unusual, judging from the gear she was packing. Unlike her wingmen (with the exception of Siyeon), Minji was only really joining the races to test the performance of the MASF’s (and by extension the Terran Federation’s) new toys against the other ARL competitiors. Siyeon on the other hand, would test the hardware in the Air Combat category, which would be taking place tomorrow.  </p><p>Her knuckles, now white from keeping the afterburners lit, Jinsoul turns, as her iris cam, flashing blue, indicates another aircraft approaching fast. It shoots past, her iris cam identifying it as Yves’s Sylphid. Jinsoul merely chuckles, her Wyvern quickly catching up to the Sylphid, then breezing past, right as they passed the starting line, beginning the first leg of the final lap</p><p>Yerim’s tapped into Jinsoul’s feed. She feels her heart pause as she anticipates Yves making another high speed pass on Jinsoul. Yerim waits. And waits. And waits. But Yves doesn’t appear. At all.</p><p>Jungeun’s still watching on her own iris cam’s virtual feed. A diagram of the Wyvern fills her field of vision, with critical systems like the datalink, fuel, engine temp, oil pressure, hydraulics all marked in green.</p><p>“Owl to Betta. If you want to know how you’re doing, victory’s all yours. I’m monitoring all your systems right now. You’re about to reach bingo fuel, but I wouldn’t worry, cause it’s just enough to get you to the finish and down on the tarmac.”</p><p>“I can’t pick up Yves on all sensors though.”</p><p>“Don’t worry about her, she’s far enough behind you that you don’t have to think about her. Bring it home, buddy.”</p><p>And then on the other side of the line, Jinsoul can make out the sounds of Yerim cheering her on.</p><p>“Let’s finish this!”</p><p>And the crowd erupts as the Wyvern crosses the finish line, pulling an aileron roll as the sleek fighter zips over the starting line, digitally marked on the pilot’s nav systems. Jinsoul takes the opportunity to pull a few victory loops over the runway before beginning her landing approach.</p><p>Jinsoul remains silent, breathing deeply as a pair of drones buzz her taxiing fighter, waving the chequered banner over her before remaining in place, as a tow tractor is hooked up to her Wyvern</p><p>-</p><p>It doesn’t hit Jinsoul until she’s out of the cockpit, until she feels weights pressing against her sides, and realizes Jungeun and Yerim have both locked her in tight bear hugs. It feels surreal to Jinsoul. With her and Jungeun always having to retire early from the ARL races due to some unseen mechanical bug with the planes or some unfortunate stroke of luck over the past month, itr was actually a relief to have finished one race, much less win.</p><p>What’s even more surreal is THE Ha Sooyoung herself, burgundy flight suit and all, walking up to Jinsoul, offering the blue suited pilot a handshake.</p><p>“Jung Jinsoul right?”</p><p>“I- uhh- Y-yes. That’s right.” Jinsoul fumbles over her words, returning the handshake as Yerim tries to restrain Jungeun, who’s just about ready to slip back into fangirl mode.</p><p>“And these are the rest of your team, I presume?” To which Jinsoul nods, as Yerim and Jungeun step over, introducing themselves, with Yerim still trying to restrain Jungeun.</p><p>“Yes. I’m sure you know your biggest fangirl Jungeun, and our purple haired prodigy here is Yerim.”</p><p>“Oh yes. I remember racing you both before I left for my Earth tour. Come to think of it, the way you raced tonight… It’s just like old times. I’ve never met anyone who could give me such a run for my money the way you two did.”</p><p>“I’m sorry about what happened to you though. Heard you had some engine trouble.”</p><p>‘Hey, don’t be. Shit happens. It’s all part of the game, be it in the air or on the ground.”</p><p>And as the conversation drags on, Yerim catches sight of Siyeon, disappearing into the crowd with Minji and three other pilots. And as if Siyeon knew Yerim was watching, she shoots the younger pilot a glance, mouthing “Remember what I told you, kid.”</p><p>And then Yerim’s attention was drawn back to Yves, who offered a handshake.</p><p>“Jinsoul’s told me a lot about you. You look like you’ve got a lot of potential. Mayhaps I’ll be seeing you in the air sometime soon? After your plane is ready to take flight, of course.”</p><p>And now it’s Yerim’s turn to stutter, at the very fact that the person whose songs she was listening to just before the race was now talking to her, and was looking forward to actually racing her in the air.</p><p>“I- My gosh, I’m really honored, Miss Yves.”</p><p>To which Yves chuckles.</p><p>“I’ll be taking that as a yes. I’m looking forward to our race in the next round.”</p><p> Yerim breaks into a giddy grin after. She’s still grinning alongside an awestruck Jungeun, until Jinsoul taps them both on the shoulders, reminding them that they do have a home to go back to.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>A/N: here's a list of AU-related terms so far and what they mean (to be amended as the story progresses)</p><p>-Spook: Originally a slur for spies or analysts usually associated with the CIA and MI5 on Earth, the Martian slang has adapted the slur to refer to any member of the military. Most military members use the word ironically to refer to themselves.</p><p>-Feddie: A nickname for the Terran Federation, the federal government of Earth, Mars and the various space and planetary colonies under their jurisdiction. Earthlings see the term Feddie as a slur while Martians and colonists see it as a harmless abbreviation of the 'Federation' part of the name. </p><p>-Skinjob: An Earthling slur for replicants.</p><p>-Replicant: An artificial human that's been cultured and grown in a laboratory through bioengineering. Essentially a biological/organic 'android', replicants have similar intelligence to a normal human being but they have superior strength, agility and physical resilience. Replicants can live as long as a regular human, which is 80-100 years with minimal signs of physical ageing. </p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. 04</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Not one passing vehicle pays much attention to the convoy as it passes down the highway from the starport into the northern end of Solaris. But then in the midnight hour, no one could care less about a bunch of jeeps and personnel carriers escorting two haulers with a fighter on each trailer, the fighters’ raven-like forms with their wings folded, covered over by a tarpaulin.</p><p>One of the jeeps speeds ahead of the others, the extra antennae on its roof denoting it as a command vehicle.</p><p>The convoy turns off on to a section of highway that skirts around the outside of Solaris, heading for the Mars Aerospace Force base.</p><p>From a distance, two pairs of eyes watched from the hills, eyeing the convoy through a pair of binoculars.</p><p>“These guys look a bit too heavily armed to be regular vultures… They look like they’re MASF spooks. You sure this the right target?”</p><p>“According to the time, date, shipment schedule and coordinates they gave us, this has to be the correct convoy…”</p><p>The red haired mercenary glances over at her spotter before reaching for her sniper rifle, aiming down the scope as she adjusts the zoom, getting a closer look at the silhouettes of the two jets on their trailers. Take out the escorts, hijack the transports, then haul ass with the two shiny new prototype fighters. A relatively straightforward plan. But then somehow, it felt too easy.</p><p>The former MARSOF operator suddenly regretted her policy of no questions asked, but then brushed the thought aside as her nerves acting up.</p><p>“Cross-check the recon photos. The aircraft we’re supposed to swipe match the description, but I’ll contact them just to be sure.”</p><p>The redhead mutters a few hushed words into her wrist mounted communicator. The reply was quick, confirming that yes, they did have the correct target. Yunru, as the red haired mercenary’s alias was, nodded to her spotter, who then proceeded to bark a few words into his headset.</p><p>“Target has entered the trap. Let’s rock.”</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p>The drive to the MASF air base where Minji’s squadron was stationed, didn’t take as long as the roads in that area were generally empty at sunrise. Jungeun was driving this time, driving the same way she flew her Fand 2; maximum speed, maximum control, flooring the accelerator, with one hand on the shifter, as Jungeun loved to drive stick, and the other hand on the wheel along with the booming, pulsing beat of a trance track on near full blast. The whole situation made Yerim in the passenger’s seat next to Jungeun feel as if she was in a race from an arcade game she used to play back on Earth. She couldn’t recall what said game was called, but it had the words ‘Midnight’and ‘Maximum Tune’ in the title.</p><p>The road leading to their destination was pretty much a straight line, like Solstice Canyon. In addition, there was also the fact that traffic was minimal, which allowed Jungeun to keep the pedal to the floor, her car, just like her aircraft, a blood red streak. Yerim looks up in the mirror, catching sight of Jinsoul asleep in the backseat, chuckling as she wonders how the older girl can still sleep in all this.</p><p>As Yerim looks out the window, she catches the sight of flashes in the distance, followed by a series of muffled bangs. And then a pair of gunships, which looked like the newer Venom-class soared overhead with a loud woosh, punctuated by the distinct chugging of autocannons firing in the distance.</p><p>“Must be some kind of exercise or something.” Jungeun mutters, somehow managing to catch the action in the distance despite keeping her focus on the road in front of her.</p><p>“I don’t recall exercises with live rounds taking place this close to Solaris.”</p><p>Jungeun merely replies with a shrug.</p><p>“Hell if I know. Our military pals probably won’t talk about it either.”</p><p>-</p><p>The only sounds in the office were an irritated sigh, as Minji buried her face in her hands, inhaling deeply as she attempted to hold back her growing fury.</p><p>“So you’re saying that a group of rogue vultures attempted to raid the convoy?</p><p>In front of her desk, Siyeon stood at attention, her expression remaining stoic as she responded with a nod.</p><p>“From what I gathered from the debriefings and the after-action reports, yes. Only three casualties, including Yoobin though they managed to recover all their stacks. It seems they were after the Maves”</p><p>“You do realise how this makes us look right? I can live with the graft accusations since literally every single person in the Martian Armed Forces from bottom to top is guilty of it including us, but I will not stand to be made to look incompetent. Especially by a group of roving bandits. Someone’s head is going to roll and I’m going to make damn sure it won’t be mine or yours.”</p><p>Minji leans back, throwing her head back as she releases an irritated growl. Siyeon then clears her throat before she takes the chance to speak.   </p><p>“If it’s any reassurance Commander, the two Maves that were being shipped to us were unharmed while our forces managed to kill almost all of the bandits. Though it does bother me that they’d be daring enough to attack a military convoy.”</p><p>Minji opens one eye, her anger half dissipating as the gears in her head start turning. Her wingman was right. It didn’t make sense for bandits to attack a military convoy when there were much easier targets. Unless someone put them up to it. Even the fact that the new Maves were targeted made little sense as plenty of fifth- and sixth-generation fighters comparable in performance to the new prototype Maves were already available on the surplus market.</p><p>The thoughts of who and why would be put aside, as Siyeon’s radio crackles. Minji opens her other eye as her wingman replies, as terse as ever.</p><p>“What is it now?”</p><p>“Our guests have arrived.”</p><p>Minji jumps out of her seat immediately, having forgotten about the appointment she’d set up with the three pilots from the Odd Eye Circle team.</p><p>“Well then let’s not keep them waiting, shall we? Go fetch Hyejoo. I’m sure your little protégé would enjoy a good fight.”</p><p>-</p><p>“Our agent’s gone dark, <em>duizhang</em> Han.” A woman with ash-grey hair that fell past her shoulders looked up from the stack of cards in her hand, raising an eyebrow upon hearing her second-in command speak before turning back towards her cards.</p><p>“Perhaps it had something to do with that attack on an MASF convoy earlier this morning. The Dragons are smarter than that. No one in their right mind would attempt to fuck with the Martian Armed Forces, especially MARSOF, the Marines and the Aerospace Force, unless there’s an ulterior motive of sorts. And besides, there’s plenty of aircraft on the surplus market which are comparable in performance to the military’s shiny new toys.”</p><p>The first speaker, who went by the name Ziqi nodded, as she eyed the growing pile of Martian credits in the centre of the table. “I’ll raise a hundred.”</p><p>“She’s one of our best agents. There’s no way she’d let herself get exposed so easily.” Another woman, named Xinwen shrugged as she spoke, then muttered a request to raise the stakes to two hundred credits.</p><p> “A mole perhaps?”</p><p>Handong merely shrugs before a grin breaks out across her face at her poker hand. A straight flush with the hearts deck.</p><p>“I cannot say for sure. If it’s a mole, it could be anyone that’s not at this table right now. It could also be a stroke of bad luck, as even the most detailed and classfied operation can go awry from a variety of reasons. If my hunch is right, the Dragons never trusted her to begin with, and are purging their ranks, eliminating those they suspect to have ties with us, the MASF or the Martian Federal Police. Or if we apply Hanlon’s Razor, they’re so desperate to be at the top of the ARL, they’re willing to swipe the newest aircraft available, regardless of comparable ones being readily available on the market. Either way, our double agent’s cover is definitely blown and we’ll have to recover her ASAP without troubling our friends in the MASF.”</p><p>Handong then turns to Ziqi, who happens to be her second-in command.  “Lieutenant, I want you to put together a crew to recover our missing agent.”</p><p>To which Ziqi mutters an acknowledgement.</p><p>“How many do you want me to gather?”</p><p>“As many as you think it’ll take.”</p><p>“Roger that. I won’t fail you, <em>Duizhang.</em>”</p><p>“Go now. Time is of the essence.”</p><p> Handong and Ziqi salute each other, before Ziqi bows, turning to leave the room.</p><p>“Also, I’m sure some of you have heard of that three-member ARL team, which had one pilot win yesterday’s race. Two of them used to do runner jobs for us every now and then.”</p><p>“Odd Eye…something. Can’t recall the full name but their pilot in the blue suit gave that Yves chick quite a run for her money yesterday.”</p><p>Xinwen looks up, gritting her teeth at the bad hand she ended up being dealt, before raising an eyebrow, knowing exactly what their boss was thinking at that very moment.</p><p>“So you want to see them in the next race and then bet on them?”</p><p>“You know me too well.”</p><p>“It’s not unlike you to turn down a good gamble, isn’t it, <em>Duizhang</em>?”</p><p>Handong chuckles, her sharklike grin growing even wider as she reveals her hand, earning a collective groan from the remaining figures around the table.</p><p>Xinwen shakes her head before getting up, throwing her hands up in defeat.</p><p>“I swear you’re gonna game us all out of our savings.”</p><p>“You’ll get it back soon enough.”</p><p>-</p><p>The car stops, in the middle of the desert, at a set of coordinates that Minji had sent to Jungeun through a text. Jinsoul had woken up, as soon as the car had stopped, stretching as she gazed over the near endless sea of red sand around them.</p><p>“You sure this is the place?”  Yerim steps out, scratching her head. The coordinates they were given for the meeting was literally in the middle of nowhere.</p><p>Jungeun shrugs, muttering something about how those were the exact coordinates she was given.</p><p>And as if someone had decided to add an answer to Yerim’s query, a gunship with the markings of the MASF appears from behind a dune, circling the three girls before setting itself down in front of them, Yerim, Jinsol and Jungeun shielding their eyes from the dust cloud.</p><p>Minji and a couple of marines stepped out of the craft, as Yerim fans away the dust from her face with her palm.</p><p>“So uhh Captain, tell us again why you wanted to meet in the middle of freaking nowhere?”</p><p>Jungeun raises an eyebrow as a face mask and a strip of cloth is thrust into her hands, with the same going for Jinsoul and Yerim. </p><p>“Security precautions. There was an incident earlier outside the city involving one of our teams so we have to take extra measures. The masks are to keep the dust out of your faces. You’ll have to wear the blindfolds until I say it’s okay to take them off.”</p><p>The three girls look at each other before complying with Minji’s instructions as the marines then led the three blindfolded racers into the gunship. The flight to the airbase didn’t take as long as Yerim expected. Within the span of 15 minutes, she felt herself being led out of the gunship, and then as the blindfold was lifted, she found herself in Minji’s squadron’s ready room with Jinsoul and Jungeun nowhere to be found. And then with her reflexes, she catches a flight suit that Minji almost casually tosses at her.</p><p>“Get suited up. You’re flying with me in 10 minutes.”</p><p>The younger pilot blinks before turning around, slipping on the suit, which was surprisingly form fitting, given its bulk. And then on goes the helmet, Yerim struggling with all the straps as she then glances over her shoulder, watching as the squadron leader effortlessly suits herself up.</p><p>And then everything else flashes by as Yerim finds herself being led, down several hallways, and then into the near-blinding Martian sun, Minji beside her and an armed guard (who seemingly appeared out of nowhere) behind the two.</p><p>There were two aircraft in the hangar, one was a Super Sylph like Jinsoul’s while the other was a Mave, the same raven-like aircraft Minji had flown in the last race. Minji then motions for the younger pilot to climb into the Super Sylph, which packed a white rabbit emblem on each fin.</p><p>“You really like that Mave eh? Can tell by the way you’re gawking at it.”</p><p>Minji chuckles, climbing into the backseat as Yerim then climbs into the front seat.</p><p>“I’ll be honest, I’m kinda dying to take flight in it.”</p><p>“Unfortunately for obvious reasons, I can’t let you into the Mave. Yet. But I think you’ll do good in the Super Sylph. I’m sure you’ve taken flight in Jinsoul’s before.”</p><p>And then before Yerim can reply, Minji starts running Yerim through the checklist and the controls of the fighter. Within minutes, a tow hook is attached, and a tractor pulls the sleek fighter out on to the tarmac as the engines roar to life, and then the tractor detaches itself, Minji waiting for a response from the control tower that would indicate they were cleared for takeoff. And Yerim waits. And waits.</p><p>Minji’s voice breaks the monotony a moment later.</p><p>“Okay, while we’re waiting for clearance, I’ll make this quick before we head out. We’ll be doing an Air Combat Manuvers session because I want to see how good you are and Siyeon’s little protégé is itching for a good fight. I know you’ll do your best so show me what you got, kid.”</p><p>“I-uhh… Roger that.”</p><p>Minji chuckles in response.</p><p>“Hey, relax. I’m not gonna chew you out like a drill instructor. I assume you’ve played videogames like War Thunder, DCS or… or even Ace Combat?”</p><p>“Yes, Colonel.”</p><p>“Right. Think of this as multiplayer match except there’s no restart button and you can’t respawn either.”</p><p>On the other end of the runway, a Mave starts its take-off run. Packing the wolf’s insignia on its fins, the fighter blurs into a dark streak over the unending red of the sands below. Siyeon would be the back-seater for this flight while one of the MASF’s newer recruits was in the front seat, a 2<sup>nd </sup>Lieutant Son Hyejoo. Half the pilots in Minji’s squadron referred to Hyejoo as the wolf-cub, in reference to her rather youthful appearance and the fact that her flying style was very similar to Siyeon’s.</p><p>Yerim draws in a breath, Minji doing most of the conversion with the control tower. And then Yerim’s headset crackles to life as Minji switches frequencies to the Super Sylph’s intercom.</p><p>“Alright. We’re cleared for take-off. Just fly like you normally would, kid.”</p><p>And as the Mave circles over the runway, the Super Sylph takes off at full power, climbing up to meet it. Both aircraft slowly circle around the base before they break away, heading for the desert to the west.</p><p>-</p><p>“Picking up one bogey. Closing in from vector three one five. Angels two-zero.” Hyejoo observes the blip on the radar screen on the left side of her instrument panel before pressing a few buttons, the friend-or-foe ID tag on the approaching fighter changing from ‘FRND’ to ‘TGT’.</p><p>“They’re climbing.” Siyeon notes, watching the altitude tag next to the blip blur in increasing number values.</p><p>“Then we shall climb.” Hyejoo pulls back on the joystick, raising the Mave’s nose as she applies full throttle to meet their opponent, Minji in the Super Sylph, intending to use Minji’s favourite opening move of a head-on merge to begin the fight.</p><p>“Target’s in visual range. Don’t hold back.” What military pilots consider visual range, would appear to most laymen as a barely visible speck in the windscreen.</p><p>“With pleasure. Engaging.”</p><p>The speck grows larger and larger, morphing into the sleek form of Minji’s Super Sylph, its sleek form a sharp contrast to the alien bird-of-prey looks of Siyeon and Hyejoo’s Mave.</p><p>Both aircraft merge in a flash, the pilots rolling the aircraft until the cockpits faced each other. The Mave and Super Sylph flashing past each other, with their fin tips mere feet apart. A nervous Yerim looks up, and as if in slow motion, she catches sight of Siyeon and Hyejoo in the Mave’s cockpit. Siyeon throwing her a salute as Hyejoo remains focused on the controls.</p><p>Minji’s voice crackling over the intercom brings the purple haired pilot out of her near-trance as the world flashes back into ‘normal’ speed.</p><p>“Hey kid, you listening? Don’t try too hard to impress me, don’t get too distracted by how cool their aircraft looks. Fly as you normally would in the simulators or in the games.”</p><p>“Uhh… got it. Engaging!”</p><p>“Well then, let’s have some fun.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. 05</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Martian sky erupts in contrails as the two fighters duke it out high above the desert. The Mave after a series of loops, managed to get the drop on the Super Sylph, staying latched on to its tail, just as Siyeon had done to the other Mave the day before.</p><p>In the Mave’s front seat, Yerim’s eyes dart up to the mirrors, then down to the displays, trying to not lose sight of the two wolves nipping at her heels as her hand works the joystick, flicking it in whichever direction her instincts told her to, the Super Sylph being extremely quick to respond to the purple haired pilot’s inputs. With both aircraft being sent up unarmed, they were much lighter, capable of turning tighter and faster than usual.</p><p>“They’re like predators… real persistent.”</p><p>“Well, they’re called the wolf and the wolf cub for a reason.” Minji cooly replies, her attention focused on observing and noting every manuver Yerim tries, in attempts to shake off Hyejoo and Siyeon, whose aircraft remained stuck to their tail like glue.</p><p>“Just keep doing what you’re doing. Remember, react. Don’t pause to think. You think, you automatically hesitate. If this is a real combat situation, even a split second of hesitation will end with you literally going down in flames. Keep at it. They still haven’t managed to get a proper bead on you so you’re doing fine.”</p><p>“I- Um- Thank you, ma’am.”</p><p>-</p><p>“I thought this was going to be easy.” Hyejoo mutters, keeping the Mave glued to the Super Sylph’s tail as she mirrors each manuver the Super Sylph makes.</p><p>“That’s called overconfidence, my friend. Never assume a fight will be easy, even with an opponent that’s had zero combat experience. Overconfidence gets one killed.” </p><p>Hyejoo mumbles back an acknowledgement, her thumb poised over the fire control button, which for this session, would send a signal back to the observers in the base’s control tower and command room, indicating a simulated missile launch or simulated burst of gunfire, depending on which ‘weapon’ Hyejoo had selected on the fire control system’s ‘simulation’ mode.</p><p>Most combat-experienced pilots, Hyejoo could easily outguess within the span of a few minutes of dogfighting, as most combat pilots are wont to execute every manuver she herself had learned in training. Each manuver and trick would have its own counter-manuver. But with non-combat pilots like Yerim, staying on her tail was easy, trying to predict what Yerim would do next, was harder than it sounded as her lack of experience somehow made her unpredictable.</p><p>Hyejoo notes at how erratic her opponent’s moves are as she maintains pursuit. And then a chuckle over the intercom, as if Siyeon was reading her protégé’s thoughts.</p><p>“Imagine you’re the new meat in any flight combat game like War Thunder or Ace Combat. Or maybe you’re a character in… I dunno, Top Gun. You’ve mastered the art of flying but not the art of battle. Ask yourself, what would be your first instinct?”</p><p>And then it hits Hyejoo. Of course, her opponent would try to emulate the movies and either attempt to lose her in the mountains below or in the clouds. The designated minimum altitude for this session ruled out the mountains, therefore the only place Yerim would attempt to evade then get the drop on her, would be in the clouds.</p><p>“Seems like you’ve managed to guess her next move?” Siyeon chuckles again as their Mave starts following the Super Sylph into the clouds above.</p><p>The altimeter reads 20,000 feet and the numbers increase, the Super Sylph flying right into the clouds with the Mave in hot pursuit.</p><p>“Minji’s new friend may be inexperienced but don’t toy with her too much. Not because I’m asking you to go easy on her, but because it can and will backfire on you.”</p><p>And then Hyejoo sees nothing but white as the chase carries on into the cloud bank above.</p><p>-</p><p>“You know, our little prodigy’s holding up pretty well.”</p><p>“Indeed. I did teach her how to handle a plane after all.” Jinsoul chuckles, gazing up as her eyes follow the two aircraft yawing, banking and rolling ceaselessly until both planes disappeared into the cloud bank.</p><p>Earlier at the base, they had taken off the blindfolds on order of the soldiers escorting them, as soon as Minji deemed it safe to. And right after the Super Sylph and Mave took off, Jinsoul and Jungeun were invited to watch the ACM session from below, on the back of a personnel carrier.</p><p>Jungeun takes a sip from the bottle of water a soldier handed to her earlier, drawing in a breath before speaking.</p><p>“From the way she’s flying against their own rookie, I’m kind of surprised you didn’t teach her the art of combat. Weren’t you part of the MASF too at one point?”</p><p>Jinsoul shrugs with a chuckle.</p><p>“Well buddy, in case you forgot, I was a dropship puke, not a fighter jock. Most of my flights were just hauling cargo and troops around. I couldn’t teach Yerim something I never learned to begin with.”</p><p>“Touche. Actually come to think of it, you never told me about your time in the MASF as a military spook.”</p><p>Jinsoul replies with another chuckle. To Jinsoul, there wasn’t much to talk about in her five years with the military. She signed up, did her time… which consisted mostly of cargo flights. Except for that one time she served a six-month tour of duty on the war-torn planet Faery and Minji’s squadron was the one that bailed her out on one combat drop with Minji herself drawing fire away from Jinsoul’s dropship while Siyeon and the pilot with the Raven emblem blasted a path all the way to the drop zone and back.</p><p>But Jinsoul brushes the memory aside. Other than that, she considered the rest of her service to be rather unremarkable. She never really talked about it. Not out of battle-induced trauma from the missions on Faery, but out of the fact that she didn’t feel like it was worth talking about.</p><p>“It’s a long story.” Jinsoul finally says, with Jungeun nodding in understanding, not wanting to pry further.</p><p>The seconds feel like eternity as Jungeun and Jinsoul wait for one out of the two aircraft to emerge from the clouds.</p><p>-</p><p>“You can’t evade them forever, kid. Gotta start going on the offensive real soon.” Minji glances out the rear of the cockpit, then back in front, observing the younger pilot in front of her. She could almost see the gears in Yerim’s head turning as Yerim tried to figure out a way to outwit their opponents, which was harder than it sounded, with the Mave’s pilots being able to match her every move.</p><p>They would break through the clouds pretty soon and Yerim only has seconds to decide her next move.</p><p>“Hey kid, I’ve still got ‘em. They’re still back there nipping at our heels. You thinking up a plan?” Minji steals several more glances behind them, watching for Siyeon and Hyejoo.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Whatever it is, it’d better be quick ‘cause we’re giving ‘em a free lockon!”</p><p>The two fighter break through the clouds, with the Super Sylph levelling out, the Mave still hot on its tail.</p><p>“They’re still back there, closing fast.”</p><p>“I’m gonna hit the brakes, they’ll fly right by.”</p><p>“Okay do it. Do it! DO IT!”</p><p>Yerim pulls back on both the throttle and joystick, raising the Super Sylph’s nose, climbing up, and then quickly descending after.</p><p>“Hah nice one, kid. Let’s go do a little wolf hunting!”</p><p>-</p><p>“Okay you’re mi- Damn it!” Right as the lock-on tone increases in pitch and intensity, the Super Sylph noses up, the Mave overshooting it. Hyejoo frantically glances in both directions, stealing looks behind their fighter as she instinctively rolls the aircraft, with their quarry mirroring her maneuver.</p><p>“Try and keep your head cool, panicking or getting worked up isn’t gonna help us any.”</p><p>Gritting her teeth with Siyeon’s words in mind, Hyejoo flicks the stick in whichever directions her instincts tell her to. But Yerim remains latched on, attempting to stay behind Hyejoo and Siyeon.</p><p>-</p><p>Down below, the audience consisting of Jungeun, Jinsoul and the personnel carrier’s crew breaks into whoops and cheers as the two fighters break through the clouds, with the Super Sylph in hot pursuit of the Mave.</p><p>“Looks like Yerimmie sure learns pretty fast.”</p><p>“I knew that girl had a lot of potential. And that right there my friend, is proof of it.”</p><p>-</p><p>“Stay on their tail! Get them! Get them!”</p><p>“Ma’am, that’s not helping!” The hunter becomes the hunted now as it’s now Yerim’s turn to take up the pursuit, chasing Hyejoo and Siyeon’s Mave across the sky.</p><p>“Come on, kid. You’re on their six now. Kill ‘em! Kill ‘em!”</p><p>“Colonel, I’m trying!”</p><p>-</p><p>“Still can’t shake em?”</p><p>“No….”</p><p>Somehow Hyejoo finds it even harder to shake off the Super Sylph as she runs through every combat trick she knows. But it’s to no avail as warning alarms go off in her headset, indicating their opponent had achieved lock.</p><p>With a defeated sigh, Hyejoo levels out the Mave’s wings as the Super Sylph pulls up alongside them, rocking its wings.</p><p>Hyejoo wordlessly returns the gesture as Siyeon takes over the controls from the back seat, flying their Mave on instruments, heading in for a landing as the Super Sylph circles above, awaiting its turn to land.</p><p>“Hey, you alright there? Don’t sweat it. You may have lost but you still did pretty well.” Siyeon gives her protégé a thumbs up in the mirrors, in an attempt to soothe Hyejoo’s wounded pride.</p><p>-</p><p>Jinsoul is the first to run up to the Super Sylph as both its pilots step out of the cockpit. Two guards rush to stop her but are promptly waved off by Minji, who then offers both Jinsoul and Yerim a handshake as soon as Yerim hits the ground.</p><p>“You’ve got one hell of a pilot on your team, Betta. Your little prodigy here’s a natural. Just needed a little push and bam! Was able to give two trained pilots a run for their money.”</p><p>To which Jinsoul grins before enveloping Yerim in a crushing bear hug. Siyeon and Hyejoo step over, after their aircraft is towed into a hangar, with Hyejoo offering Yerim a handshake as well.</p><p>“That was a pretty good fight. You’re pretty good, kid.” Siyeon flashes a sharklike grin. “Perhaps we’ll be seeing you guys later in the aerial combat match?”</p><p>“You can bet on it.” Jinsoul nods, right as Yerim herself breaks into a grin behind the helmet.</p><p>-</p><p>It didn’t take that long for the trio to prepare for the ARL match that was to take place much later that day. Tonight, both the unmanned and manned classes of the Aerial Combat category would be held, in the wastelands flanking Solaris City.</p><p>Jungeun’s Fand-II was ready to fly, and thus she had it shipped to the airfield near the western desert, where the manned class was hosting its Aerial Combat match. Yerim’s SR-72 still wasn’t ready, much to the chagrin of the younger pilot. Jinsoul came to the rescue however, offering to let Yerim fly in her new Wyvern, with a weary Yerim opting to fly in the backseat.</p><p>There were two hours to take-off. Jinsoul waits for the signal to taxi to the starting line while Yerim takes the chance to catch a nap in the back. Jungeun on the other hand, is occupied with running through her Fand-II’s systems, with a stack of checklists in her lap</p><p>Yerim stirs from her catnap as the crowd gathers along the edges of the runway. Two fighters, both Maves, one packing Minji’s rabbit insignia and the other one with the raven on its fins touch down in formation, the roar of their engines punctuated with the squealing of tires hitting the tarmac at high speed.</p><p>Several important looking figures in the crowd draw Yerim’s attention. One had ash colored hair that fell past her shoulders, surrounded by a pair of bodyguards clad in black tactical gear.  Another one, had a bob cut, with most of her hair hidden by her hoodie, with a brunette packing bangs by her side.</p><p>“Looks like all the major players are out tonight.” Jungeun observes, Jinsoul nodding in response, pointing out the ones she was familiar with.</p><p>“That hooded lady over there, that’s Jo Haseul, the mastermind of the ARL. The lady with the bangs, that’s her girlfriend Viian.”</p><p>Jo Haseul, a former blade runner from Earth. Now the mastermind of the Aerial Racing League. Blade runners were special agents of the Earth police forces that were trained to hunt down and eliminate replicants like Siyeon and half her squadron mates. In what was perhaps a twist of irony, Haseul’s last assignment as a blade runner before fleeing to Mars was to eliminate Viian, but then Haseul herself had a change of heart midway through that mission, which was probably all for the better.</p><p>And as if proving the fact that the world in general is a small place, Minji’s team, who used to be mostly Special Forces before being transferred into the Aerospace Force as pilots, were the ones who got Haseul off of Earth. The MASF allowing the ARL to operate despite its unofficial status, and even to the extent of sending a team to test their aircraft in ARL events, was pretty much a favor from Minji (who knew the right strings to pull) to Haseul.</p><p>“That Disney Princess-looking lady that’s chatting up Haseul. That’s Miss Han. Head of the Black Cats group. Me and Jungeun used to do occasional jobs for them before you came to Mars.” Miss Han, or Handong. Leader of the Black Cats. A group of former Federation personnel, mostly hailing from Earth and Mars Special Forces. The Black Cats themselves started off doing private security work, then worked their way up into gun running while dabbling in the trade of aircraft and aircraft parts to ARL teams.</p><p>With Handong having a love (bordering on fetish) for games of chance (which now mostly involved betting on the outcomes of ARL matches) and sharing Haseul’s love of flying, it was only natural that the Black Cats would grow to become one of the ARL’s biggest sponsors.</p><p>Competing with the Black Cats was a triad from Earth, the Golden Dragons, having grown in power after absorbing two of the most powerful ones in East Asia, i.e the 14K and the Sun Yee On. Their representative on Mars rarely made an appearance in the ARL matches, both in the cockpit and in the spectator stands, but the Dragons were also a major sponsor of the ARL. However, their methods often put them at odds with the Black Cats.</p><p>The Black Cats, like the military, preferred to play the game as it was intended, by leaving everything to chance. The Dragons on the other hand, preferred to control the outcomes of matches usually through rigging matches and acts of sabotage to ARL teams that were considered a threat</p><p>The Dragons did have every intention of controlling the ARL in its entirety, with only the Aerospace Force’s 3<sup>rd</sup> Experimental Weapons and Evaluation Squadron and the Black Cats being the biggest threats to them. Thus began a cold war of sorts, with Haseul, the MASF and the Black Cats intending to keep the ARL clear of the Dragons’ (and by extention Earth in general) influence out.</p><p>One hour to go. Yerim watches as a black SUV pulls up on the opposite end of the runway. Unmarked, a sharp contrast to the hastily painted over markings on the MASF’s support vehicles. By amazing coincidence, Miss Han took one look at the new arrivals and turned in the other direction. Haseul following suit Yerim hears faint clicking sounds, indicating someone was turning off the safeties on their weapons. Yerim looks over to see the MASF team, whose aircraft were now parked further down the runway ready their weapons as a tall figure steps out of the SUV, his features hidden by the black facemask and shades. Three bodyguards stepped out shortly after.</p><p>“They call him Wu. Head of the Mars branch of the Golden Dragons. It’s surprising that he decided to show up tonight.”</p><p>Both Yerim and Jinsoul turn, glancing at Jungeun who had already finished the checks on her Fand-II and decided to watch all the incoming racers from the wing of Jinsoul’s Wyvern.</p><p>“Last time I saw him, that guy was a Hung Kwan back on Earth. Hung Kwan’s like the Triad equivalent to the Mafia’s capo rank.”</p><p>“You sure seem to know a lot about ‘em.” Yerim eyes Jungeun who merely shrugs as she slips on her helmet, her left eye flashing red as her iris-cam activates along with the helmet’s electronics.</p><p>“Eh, you get into the kind of shady things I used to do on Earth, you eventually learn a few things about the big names in Earth’s underworld.”</p><p>All further conversation is cut off by the appearance of a familiar aircraft. A familiar FFR-31 Sylphid whose pilot was packing a familiar grey and burgundy flight suit.</p><p>Within seconds, a tow tractor lugs the Sylphid off to the far end of the growing queue of aircraft on the side of the runway.</p><p>Yerim and Jinsoul chuckle as Jungeun’s attention suddenly turns towards the Sylphid then switching back to performing more checks on the Fand-II’s controls as the Sylphid disappears from view. </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>20 minutes until the Aerial Combat match starts. Still no sign of Yves, much to Jungeun’s disappointment. Jinsoul and Yerim on the other hand, run through their final checks on the Wyvern’s targeting and IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) systems, ensuring the electronics were in working order.</p><p>“Well, you three are a sight for sore eyes!” The trio of Jinsoul, Yerim and Jungeun look over, catching sight of a familiar purple haired pilot along with a younger looking pilot next to her.</p><p>“Well, well, well. Looks like the rabbit’s gotten herself a prodigy of her own.” Jinsoul chuckles, to which Minji responds to with a grin.</p><p>“I can’t be borrowing yours all the time so I got my own. This pretty lady here’s 1<sup>st</sup> Lieutenant Jeon Heejin. Fresh out of the Feddie Aerospace Forces Academy on Earth. She’s good. Trust me on this, Betta.”</p><p>Heejin’s lips part in a slight smile, offering the Wyvern’s pilots a two-fingered salute that Yerim returns before Yerim herself slips on her helmet, her iris cam activating with a bright purple flash as it connects, then synchronizes itself with the aircraft’s sensors and navigation systems.</p><p>“Well, Yerim’s managed to beat Siyeon’s protégé. Let’s see how she does against yours.”</p><p>“Is that a challenge, Betta? Well, we accept.”</p><p>“Bring it on, Colonel. By the way, where's Siyeon and Hyejoo?” Jinsoul asks, suddenly curious that the Wolf and her charge weren't anywhere in sight. </p><p>"Mechanical trouble. They're somewhere in the spectator stands. But that's okay. Both of them had been pushing it a little too hard before your little showdown with them yesterday so they deserve a breather. I got another one of my girls to fly my wing." Minji nods towards the Mave with the raven insignia. Its pilot remained seated in the front. Unlike Minji's Mave, the Raven's Mave had only the pilot in the front seat, with a whole bunch of computer equipment right where the rear seat was supposed to be. </p><p>Somehow the pilot seems familiar, as Jungeun points out. But with the helmet and all its assorted cables and hoses attached, there was no way to tell. </p><p>"Oh you two do know her." Minji chuckles, as if she managed to read Jinsoul and Jungeun's thoughts. "I'll let you two and her catch up later after the match."</p><p>-</p><p>Five minutes until the start of the match. Each participating aircraft is towed to the starting line in sequence. For the Aerial Combat matches, there would be a minimum altitude of 1000 feet above the ground. Anyone who went under that would be automatically eliminated from the match, with the ‘kill’ being given to their pursuer.</p><p>The rest of the rules could not be any simpler. To score a ‘kill’, one would have either get a ‘lock’ on the target aircraft, or keep the target aircraft in the holographic reticle that represented a gunsight on the displays for more than five seonds.</p><p>A score of three to five kills per team (which consisted of two planes per team) or three to five kills per plane, would guarantee a place at the top of the leaderboards. The ensuing dogfight would be a free-for-all battle royale. A team with the most kills by the end of the match essentially won, as with the team that was the last one standing, regardless of how many kills they got. To add to the challenge, any team that got both aircraft eliminated would have their kill-scores voided.</p><p>Thus were the rules, as Jinsoul explained.</p><p>Two minutes until take-off. Both Odd Eye Circle planes had their engines running, with the pilots’ hands ready to push the throttle to full.</p><p>“You ready, girls?”</p><p>“Hell yeah. We were born ready.”</p><p>30 seconds until take-off.</p><p>“Jinsoul, Yerim. Get your fangs out, girls. We’re going hunting!”</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>